New Build Issues

N

nimraynn

New Member
Hi there,

Looking for a bit of advice. I've just built myself a new home PC, mainly so I can play a few more games, such as Battlefield 3. I'm sure you've heard that one a million times so far in the past weeks :)

To clear things up before I go any further, this is the spec of the machine I've just built:

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Coolermaster Elite 330 Tower Case: http://www.ebuyer.com/127584-coolermaster-elite-330-black-mid-tower-case-rc-330

Alpine 750W Silent PSU: http://www.dabs.com/products/best-value-alpine-750w-psu-120mm-red-fan-78ZT.html?q=alipne psu

Asus M4A87TD EVO motherboard: http://www.ebuyer.com/206151-asus-m...3-8-channel-audio-atx-motherboard-m4a87td-evo

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition: http://www.dabs.com/products/amd-ph...dition-processor-6Z3T.html?q=and phenom ii x6

G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL memory kit: http://www.ebuyer.com/264750-g-skil...mory-kit-cl9-9-9-9-24-1-5v-f3-12800cl9d-8gbxl

Asus GeForce G210 Silent 512MB graphics card: http://www.ebuyer.com/240886-asus-g...i-out-directx-10-1-en210-silent-di-512md2-lp-

TPLink 54mbps Wireless PCI adapter: http://www.dabs.com/products/tp-link-54mbps-wireless-pci-adapter-77RT.html?q=tplink

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Now, the problems I'm having are basically that the machine keeps locking up randomly. It wouldn't last 10-15 minutes before just freezing and needing a force reset.

After some searching, there was some suggestion of memory, which makes sense... and I found a configuration guide on the G.SKILL website for setting up the memory properly when paired with an AMD CPU... So after much confusion, I got some help from their techs and managed to get it setup properly. It ran for a good 4 hours without issue, so I put the problem to bed...

Today, it ran for another good 3 or 4 hours, then locked again! :(

Since this initial lock today, it won't last another 15-20 minutes again... but the strange thing is, at one point, I left it running something while I went to grab a drink, came back, and the machine was off.

Suspicious of the power supply, I went back to read some reviews on it to see if anyone had similar issues, and while there are some great reviews, there are some bad ones as well... but as soon as I started reading the bad ones, it just went. Power just cut completely...

So I'm now suspicious of the power supply. There is also a tinny whining noise that comes and goes from inside the case and I can't work out for the life of me where it's coming from. Potentially the power supply? I have noticed that when the machine locks, this whining noise seems to stay on constant, and at the same tone, until you kill the machine...

I'm about to go and grab the 450W power supply out of my Dad's PC that I built a few years back to do some testing, but unsure if 450W will be powerful enough to run with the kit installed??

I know the power supply would be the first thing to look at if the machine is cutting out, but what about random locks? Could the power supply also be responsible?

Thanks for any help :good:
 
First I would like to say that is a pretty nice set up your building. Like your choice in CPU, GPU, and memory. Power supply, mmm, ok lol.

So how tech savy are you?

If your going to change out power supplies i would suggest a 500W decent named one. This ensures that the right amount of power is being supplied to every component. Brands like Corsair tend to make really good power supplies that keeps powerline stable and the output to the max. Ones like you have chosen Apline, i have noticed anyway, tend to lack in component voltages. Once several components are up and running, voltages go up and down like a roller coaster.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of case fans and how many are you running? Reason for asking is not exactly to do with power (although could be affected) but curious on if one of your components are running hot then wanting to shut down. Was the temp of the room different when it was running for 4 hours vs the day that you started up with the 15min intervals? Such as time of day and what not. Just trying to check off the list lol.

Have you also went back in and check the settings of the memory that you changed? Were they saved kind of thing.

Im not exactly an expert, but ill give my input where i would look.
 
Ok, 2 major flaws in your system here especially if you plan on playing BF3.

1. Your video card won't even come close to playing the game. You need somewhere near the gtx560

2. You have a bad power supply. You don't want to skimp on a power supply as its the backbone of your system, if it goes out, it most of the time, takes most of the system with it.

Here is a list of what you will need so you will need to come up with some more money.

Video card - http://www.ebuyer.com/267730-asus-g...hdmi-pci-e-graphics-card-engtx560-dc-2di-1gd5

Power supply - http://www.ebuyer.com/257232-corsair-tx-650w-v2-psu-80plus-bronze-certified-cmpsu-650txv2uk
 
CrazyMike said:
First I would like to say that is a pretty nice set up your building. Like your choice in CPU, GPU, and memory. Power supply, mmm, ok lol.

So how tech savy are you?

If your going to change out power supplies i would suggest a 500W decent named one. This ensures that the right amount of power is being supplied to every component. Brands like Corsair tend to make really good power supplies that keeps powerline stable and the output to the max. Ones like you have chosen Apline, i have noticed anyway, tend to lack in component voltages. Once several components are up and running, voltages go up and down like a roller coaster.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of case fans and how many are you running? Reason for asking is not exactly to do with power (although could be affected) but curious on if one of your components are running hot then wanting to shut down. Was the temp of the room different when it was running for 4 hours vs the day that you started up with the 15min intervals? Such as time of day and what not. Just trying to check off the list lol.

Have you also went back in and check the settings of the memory that you changed? Were they saved kind of thing.

Im not exactly an expert, but ill give my input where i would look.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your replies :)

As for tech savvy, I'd say intermediate. I am a desktop support tech as a job... I'm great with software, but I'm only OK-ish with hardware. I know what nearly everything does. I know how to fit it all, replace it, etc... but I've never been great at matching up components for a new build PC, as everything we do at work is pre-built Lenovo rubbish...

Thanks for the input on the power supply brand... It's been RMA'd now as it's definitely faulty, so I'm going to be buying a new one. I will look out for Corsair...

What sort of power do you think I would need to be running for the sort of setup I've got? Would 500W do, or 650W as the other poster suggested? Was 750W a bit overkill?

As for fans, I'm running the stock cooler on the CPU. The case came with a 120mm fan mounted at the back, just underneath the power supply, and I'm running another 120mm fan at the front of the case underneath the internal drive bays. There are two vents on the side of the case as well.

Didn't matter what time of day it was. The temperature in the room has generally been around the same the whole time... and while yesterday, it crashed a few times when I first started using it, then started to perform afterwards, it was the other way round today, where it performed all morning, then started to crash later on... so I'm not sure if that could be causing it? :confused:

johnb35 said:
Ok, 2 major flaws in your system here especially if you plan on playing BF3.

1. Your video card won't even come close to playing the game. You need somewhere near the gtx560

2. You have a bad power supply. You don't want to skimp on a power supply as its the backbone of your system, if it goes out, it most of the time, takes most of the system with it.

Here is a list of what you will need so you will need to come up with some more money.

Video card - http://www.ebuyer.com/267730-asus-g...hdmi-pci-e-graphics-card-engtx560-dc-2di-1gd5

Power supply - http://www.ebuyer.com/257232-corsair-tx-650w-v2-psu-80plus-bronze-certified-cmpsu-650txv2uk
Click to expand...

Sorry, there is always something I forget to mention :o The graphics card is only temporary as I'm on a tight budget. A 560 is on the cards, but for now, I got the cheapest possible graphics card I could, as I couldn't justify spending £50-60 on a card when I'm going to replace it a month later...

As for the power supply, I kinda realise now that it is pretty crappy... I've just done some testing with the 450W power supply from my dad's machine & it works like a dream and that dodgy whining noise has disappeared too!

I've now RMA'd the power supply and about to take it down the post office. Thank you for your suggestions on what to buy next :)
 
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Right on...

Well i deffinately think it is a power issue. If temps are all normal and no variation and the memory settings haven't changed (which i doubt is causing the problem) then power supply would be my next guess. Different variations in voltages to components. I wouldn't just stop at Corsair, take a look at them all. Corsair, Rosewill, Cool Master, OCZ, ect. I personally like the Corsair TX series.

I would go with a 650W, BUT if you plan on using more than 1 video card at any time in the future, go larger.

EDIT: Sorry forgot to put, if you really save up your money i would personally get a GTX 580 :D. In my new build i am hoping to SLI two of those babies!
 
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CrazyMike said:
I wouldn't just stop at Corsair, take a look at them all. Corsair, Rosewill, Cool Master, OCZ, ect. I personally like the Corsair TX series.
Click to expand...

Rosewill and cooler master really don't make that great of a psu along with some OCZ units as well. The units that should be recommended are Corsair, Antec, PC power and cooling, silverstone and seasonic.
 
johnb35 said:
Rosewill and cooler master really don't make that great of a psu along with some OCZ units as well. The units that should be recommended are Corsair, Antec, PC power and cooling, silverstone and seasonic.
Click to expand...

Really? OCZ doesn't make a good PSU? huh. I knew cool master wasn't all that great but acceptable and i have just seen others use Rosewill on here, so i just figured they were alright.
 
My 2 cents for Cooler Master is they're great! The cheap ones are crap but once you get into the $75-$175 range they're good.
 
CrazyMike said:
hey Voyagerfan99..... have you ever used the OCZ ones?
Click to expand...

I had an OCZ 700W StealthXtreme in my old computer before I swapped it into an HTPC case. It worked good for me but when I tried to sell it on here people were skeptical about buying it because they read some poor reviews from Newegg about it. I want to say I used that PSU for about 2-1/2 years and it didn't give me any issues.

This is it:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341019
 
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ocz is soso, cooler master gold pro's are fine, then johnb forgot the brand xfx in his list of computerforum approved brands, we should actually start a list somewhere for that to refer people to when choosing parts instead of typing the whole thing every time, then again finding and copy/pasting it might take longer soo yeah. and not trying to be a dick but you shouldn't have bought that scpu, nothing other than fsx uses more than 4 cores and they won't for a while, only video and some photo stuff really use tham many or more cores, mainly the coding parts when loading and saving.
 
See i have only ever heard of good things about OCZ.... they are suppose to have superb SSDs and i thought they had good PSU.... lol John is making me look up reviews now lol....
 
jonnyp11 said:
ocz is soso, cooler master gold pro's are fine, then johnb forgot the brand xfx in his list of computerforum approved brands, we should actually start a list somewhere for that to refer people to when choosing parts instead of typing the whole thing every time, then again finding and copy/pasting it might take longer soo yeah. and not trying to be a dick but you shouldn't have bought that scpu, nothing other than fsx uses more than 4 cores and they won't for a while, only video and some photo stuff really use tham many or more cores, mainly the coding parts when loading and saving.
Click to expand...

I must be out to lunch.... i could have sworn and noticed that multi cores come in handy when doing lots of multi tasking. So choosing a core like he did, can come in handy when doing many things at once. Or so i thought it would.
 
CrazyMike said:
I must be out to lunch.... i could have sworn and noticed that multi cores come in handy when doing lots of multi tasking. So choosing a core like he did, can come in handy when doing many things at once. Or so i thought it would.
Click to expand...

Yeah but six cores is really overkill these days.
 
6 would be like running 2 games at once if not more, or running multiple video/photo editing programs at once, the thing is nowadays the cpu's, even the amd's (for op, intel cpus like the i5 2500 or even 23 or 2400 which are more similarly priced to yours, are a lot faster when you get to benches, but in the real world you can't tell a big difference), are so fast that even with less cores it can be equal to more older ones, but yes more cores is better for multitasking, but 6 is just too many when you'r paying that much when you only need 4 for almost 50 or so less.
 
hmm good to know... i just notice that when i have my music player going, web browsing, virus scan, while uploading various things. My cores are going nuts lol. having 6 cores would be awesome for me, hell 8 cores better (bulldozer) lol. Lots of times i video edit as well as do various things, so i need all the cores i can get.
 
uploading and a virus scan might be your issue, i have Pandora or jango up, cs:source, Norton (terrible with resources), and a few other random things open and am perfectly fine, and this is on a Pentium dual core @2.2ghz (sometimes 2.5 :D), so idk how that uses so much of yours.
 
jonnyp11 said:
uploading and a virus scan might be your issue, i have Pandora or jango up, cs:source, Norton (terrible with resources), and a few other random things open and am perfectly fine, and this is on a Pentium dual core @2.2ghz (sometimes 2.5 :D), so idk how that uses so much of yours.
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure it would be because i use itunes and upload 6 movies at the same time. BitDefender doesn't really take up that much.
 
yeah, decoding/encoding a single video can suck some resources, now doing that to 6 and uploading them or whatever even if it doesn't --code them it would still be sucking almost anything dry about.
 
Like i said in other threads, just waiting to see how this Bulldozer pans out, then my next build is going to be epic. I do a LOT of video editing and encoding. Not to mention i like to do many other various tasks at that (mostly work related though :( boo urns)
 
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